The Phenomenon of Stress Metical Principles and Parameters

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1 The Phenomenon of Stress Metical Principles and ParametersLecture 6The Phenomenon of StressMetical Principles and Parameters

2 Syllable Prominence Some words can be pronounced in one of two ways:Nouns VerbsINcrease inCREASeCONtest conTESTCONtrast conTRASTIMplant imPLANTGrammatical difference goes hand in hand with a difference in location of the word’s highest prominence.The prominence in question is what we call STRESS.Thus, one of the syllables of each English word is singled out as the stress carrier.

3 Word ProminenceOne of two words in a sequence is more prominent than the other:time FLIES TIME-fliesA hierarchical structure is superimposed on syllables and words.This is functionally analogous to the prosodic structure that gathers segments into syllables.

5 BaselineIn the baseline, all and only the segments that qualify to bear stress are marked with an asterisk.Those are normally the syllable heads.The syllable head constitutes the core of the syllable; it is its sonority peak.

6 Stress lineIn contrast to the stress potential formalized by the baseline, the stress line signals the actual presence of stress on an element.Stress can be interpreted as the projection of certain syllable heads onto a higher structural level.

7 Stress MovementIn English double names, the second name is more prominent:* Stress line 1* * BaselineSue AnnWhen a surname follows, main stress falls on the right-most item. However, of the preceding two, the first is now more prominent:* Stress line 2* * Stress line 1* * * BaselineSue Ann CookWhy?

8 ClashWhat would the grid structure look like if Ann, rather than Sue, had a line 1 mark?* Stress line 2* * Stress line 1* * * BaselineSue Ann CookThis grid contains a stress clash. There are two adjacent asterisks on stress line 1 that are not separated by an asterisk in the immediately lower level.

9 The Rhythm RuleEnglish, among other languages, strongly resists clash.A stress clash is usually resolved by movement:* Stress line 2*  * Stress line 1* * * BaselineSue Ann CookStress movement of this kind is generally seen as a result of the Rhythm Rule:* * * ** * *  * * *The left-most of the clashing asterisks moves back by one position.

15 MovementStress movement could be carried out in contest without contravening the Continuous Column Constraint:* Stress line 2*  * Stress line 1* * * Baselinesports contestThe output of this operation is, however, illegitimate in English, where the Rhythm Rule only implements leftward movement.

16 Evidence for Stress /t/ weakeningConsider the following forms:(a) (b) (c)cutting mastery attainwaiting after retort[]/[] [] []Two conditions for /t/ weakening:- intervocalic- a stressless following vowelt   or  / [-consonantal] _____ [-consonantal]condition: the second [-consonantal] does not support a gird column

17 Evidence for Stress AspirationConsider the following forms: the voiceless stops in A and B are aspirated, but they are not in C and D:A B C Dtone append stone tomatokin entail skin canoeEnglish voiceless stops are aspirated when initial in a stressed syllable.

18 SoThere is a hierarchy of prominence among syllables in words and among words in compounds and phrases.This prominence hierarchy is grounded in rhythm.The drive to preserve rhythm can induce stress movement.

19 Stress on the EdgeWe saw that in English phrasal collocations main stress falls on the right, whereas in binary compounds the greatest prominence tends to be on the left.This cross-linguistic tendency is formalized as follows:END STRESSProject the right-most/left-most asterisk

20 Phrasal CollocationsPhrasal stress can be assigned by applying End Stress in its “right-most” setting:* Stress line 1* * * * Baselinetime flies  time fliesEnd Stress [Right]The last baseline asterisk projects onto the newly created line 1.The resulting grid appropriately expresses the fact that flies has greater prominence than time.

21 CompoundsApplying the same procedure to the compound time-flies produces an identical output.Such an output is unattested, however, since we know that the first word is more prominent in compounds.We need to introduce some change in the procedure.

22 Multiple Settings?One possible way to get the correct stress in compounds would simply be to switch the setting of End Stress:* Stress line 1* * * * Baselinetime-flies  time-fliesEnd Stress [Left]This procedure is rejected on the grounds that it requires multiple settings for the same parameter in a single language.

23 ExtrametricalityAn alternative procedure, consistent with the “right-most” setting of End Stress involves concealing the right-most asterisk.The device known as Extrametricality excludes the element it acts upon from the computations in the metrical grid:Extrametricality:Mark the right-most/left-most asterisk extrametrical.(*  <*>)

24 PeripheralityExtrametrical behaviour has been found to be associated with peripheral elements.This is formalized as follows:Peripherality ConditionOnly peripheral elements can be extrametrical.

25 Compounds and ExtrametricalitySo far, extrametricality is only relevant to compound structures:* * * <*> Baselinetime-flies  time-fliesExtrametricalityThe output includes only one baseline asterisk:* Stress line 1* <*> * <*> BaselineEnd Stress [Right]The action of End Stress [Right] places the main stress in the correct position.

27 Extrinsic OrderingWe could simply stipulate that Extrametricality applies before End Stress.However, this is an example of the disfavoured Extrinsic Ordering, in which the order of rules is stipulated by the analyst instead of being derived from universal principles.

28 Restricted EnvironmentThe two rules function as follows:End Stress ExtrametricalityInput right-most asterisk right-most asteriskEffect project mark extrametricalEnvironment no context compoundsThe environment of Extrametricality is more restricted than that of End Stress.

29 Elsewhere ConditionThe Elsewhere Condition, which is active throughout phonology, regulates the application of the two rules:Elsewhere ConditionGiven two rules such that:(i) their inputs are identical(ii) their outputs are incompatible(iii) the environment of one rule is the same as the environment of the other rule plus something extrathen, the rule with the richer environment is ordered first, and, if it does apply, the other rule is skipped.As a consequence of the Elsewhere Condition, Extrametricality applies before End Stress.

30 English Nouns Consider the following two groups of forms:cínema aspáragusélephant metamórphosiscústomer hippopótamusEnglish noun stress is antepenultimate.

33 The Metrical FootThe pairing of (S - W) or (W - S) syllables is formally called a FOOT.Binarity can be a property of metrical feet, where each is made up of precisely two elements (syllables).The strong element in the foot is the Head.So, our metrical machinery is augmented with:* Stress line 1- left-headed foot = (S W) (* *) Baseline- right-headed foot = (W S) (* *) BaselineThe location of the foot head is indicated by means of an asterisk in line 1.

34 Main Word Stress in EnglishEnglish noun stress algorithm:a. Mark the last element extrametricalb. Build a left-headed foot at the right edge* Stress line 1* * * * * * *<*> * (* *)<*> Baselineasparagus  asparagus  asparagus(a) (b)As a result of these two steps, main stress is correctly assigned to the syllable pa.

36 Restricting ExtrametricalityTo get the correct stress pattern for verbs and unsuffixed adjectives, extrametricality should be suppressed:* Stress line 1* * * * (* *) Baselineimplicit  implicitFootingRestricting extrametricality to nouns justifies the difference of stress patterns in English verbs and nouns.

37 Unreduced VowelsThe procedure developed so far yields one (left-headed) foot per word.This could be interpreted as one stressed syllable per word.We know that unstressed short vowels in English undergo reduction.However, there are some words with more than one unreduced vowel (hippopotamus).The fact that short vowels surface unreduced suggests that they are stressed.

38 Rhythm and Multiple StressThe unreduced vowels are located at equal intervals to the left of the vowel stressed by the algorithm:hamamelidánthemumThe basic rhythm of English involves an alternation of strong and weak elements throughout the word, not just at the right edge.This means that foot construction must sweep across the whole word.

40 Secondary Stresses Foot construction iterates from right-to-left.As a result, a number of syllables end up supporting foot heads.Therefore, their vowels do not reduce.These additional peaks of prominence are referred to as Secondary Stresses.Hence, the foot construction rule is modified as follows:b’. Build left-headed feet iteratively from right to left(The direction of footing needs to be stipulated language by language.)

41 Word HeadednessWe have a number of left-headed feet in (hama)(meli)(danthe)<mum>.We know intuitively that stress on dan is the strongest.But, there is no structural difference between this syllable and the two other foot heads: ha and me.

42 Word HeadednessTo make up for this shortfall, we submit the final footing output to End Stress [Right]:* Stress line 2* * * Stress line 1(* *) (* *)(* *) <*> Baselineh a m a m e l i d a n t h e m u mThe head of the metrical word shows up as the word’s main stress, and the heads of the remaining feet as secondary stresses.

43 Summing upA limited set of universal principles and parameters can account for the apparently varied and unpredictable stress patterns of English.Marking an element extrametrical accounts for contrasting stress patterns, while maintaining a single setting for the End Stress rule.Extrametricality is controlled by the Peripherality Condition.Introducing the Foot as a level of analysis allows for assigning correct stress patterns in words made up of more than two syllables.Metrical feet are further substantiated by the alternating patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables.The inventory of metrical parameters includes:the location of the foot’s head,the direction of foot construction,the presence and edge setting of extrametricality, andthe edge setting of End Stress.